The Innocent (A 'Finder' Fanfiction)

Shadow of Pluto - 22 - Mikhail

He flipped the mattress with little effort ... or restraint. Maxim looked at him with a frown, then turned towards Fei Long, who just shrugged slightly.

At dinner the evening before, they had talked about Alex. They had combined their suspicions and intuitions. How these had just added up too perfectly! The following night had been a restless one, with them not knowing where the bastard had snuck off to. He had left the mansion after their little confrontation, without telling anybody where he had gone or when he would be back.

Maxim had ordered his guardsmen to detain Alex, should he return, and to inform the master of the house right away – no matter the hour. Yet, the missing one had not shown up for the whole night nor in the morning.

At breakfast, they had talked to Asami, who had looked much better than the previous two days. In all his pity, however, Mikhail had not really felt much sympathy for him.

Asami had been the king of his world for years without any drawbacks because he had never allowed anything to interfere with his stubborn businessman-ship. Then Akihito had stomped into his life and his heart had suddenly commanded to have a say in things. That, of course, was only natural and if Asami wanted love, then he had to live with it.

In Mikhail's opinion, it was obvious that the months of waiting, doubting, and worrying had taken the edge of the once cold bastard. All his hopes had thrown themselves onto the idea of being quickly reunited with his lover and of swooping back into their happy-routine right away, as if nothing whatsoever had happened. But that had not come to pass. There was another hurdle in the way – maybe the worst Asami and Akihito had had to overcome ever. Nevertheless, none of that was any apology for him to let himself slip so excessively.

Mikhail knew very well how damn cold the world was when the one you loved was a mere arm length away, yet far beyond any permission or possibility to even just touch. He had known how that felt for years, and for Asami it had been what? Four days?

He still wished Fei Long had given the bastard a well-aimed roundhouse kick to the head. Definitely, Mikhail was not going to accept that faintly muttered apology from him. After all he had done, after all he owed to Fei Long, there had to be more than just that.

For the moment, however, he would let it slip.

When they had talked to Asami at breakfast, he had long supped on one cup of coffee, even when it had to be cold already, and had listened. No matter how hard his frown had overshadowed his eyes at times, he had never once contradicted or injected.

Maybe Fei Long would have been able to convince the man that the sky was pink with green dots in it at that morning. Asami had seemed like he would just accept anything the Chinese told him.

In the end, though, he had put both his palms onto the polished table and had slowly looked up.

"The day I met him here for the first time, I asked him for his phone, and he did not even argue. He gave it to me right away, even though he must have known that you did not want me to have any contact with the outside world."

He turned towards his brother, a growl in his voice and a reproachful glimmer in his eyes.

Maxim answered calmly and factually: "He knew about that."

And Asami, no matter how angry he had just seemed to be at the older, let it pass.

"He came with me to Warsaw at once. He talked me into coming back here. Was that on your order?"

Now Maxim shook his head. "No. I was surprised he wanted to go with you. And more so when you were back. I had not expected any of this."

After breakfast Asami had taken off to speak with Akihito, and the other three men had still sat there in silence, each caught in their thoughts, until Maxim had spoken again: "I have a master key."